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Stronger community councils can help to get the diverse voices Toronto needs

Having made it through the mess that Premier Doug Ford made of Toronto’s election with his midstream decision to cut city council in half, it’s now time to move the city forward.

The newly elected council, along with city staff and residents, needs to figure out how a mayor and 25 councillors can effectively and fairly govern nearly 3 million people. And while Monday’s election left Toronto with new problems it made no dent in one of the most persistent and troubling issues: a city council that looks nothing like the people it’s supposed to represent.

Mayor John Tory should move to include citizen members on the now depleted community councils. (Rene Johnston / Toronto Star)

Across the city’s 25 wards, only eight women were elected. Toronto’s population is incredibly diverse (some 51 per cent identify as a visible minority), and yet there are just four faces on council that aren’t white. And only four councillors are new; all the others are holdovers from last time and some have been around for decades.

Can anything be done? Mayor John Tory has spoken in general terms about including citizens on community councils as one way to maintain responsive local government now that councillors’ geography and responsibilities have roughly doubled in size.

It’s a good idea, one he should pursue. If it’s done well, it could also help to deliver more of the gender balance and diversity so sorely missing on council now.

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At the moment, Toronto has four community councils made up exclusively of councillors from the city’s four geographic areas. They listen to deputations, arbitrate neighbourhood disputes, deal with local planning matters and have the final authority on a very small number of local issues.

Long before Ford slashed the size of city council there were calls to strengthen the role of the community councils. They are most accessible to residents and giving them more power would free up the full council to focus on city-wide issues.

A report by the Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance last year recommended broadening the range of issues the local councils deal with and their authority to make decisions — and allowing residents to serve directly on them.

It was a good idea then and it’s even more important now.

With the reduced size of council these local bodies will have just six or seven councillors apiece. Throw in an absent councillor or two and they’ll struggle to maintain quorum just to hold a meeting, let alone retain the legitimacy to make decisions.

The issues before community council are the ones that have the greatest impact in the neighbourhoods people live in, and it’s vital they have a healthy airing where multiple views can be expressed.

Some worry that including non-elected citizens may undermine democracy. But there’s no real reason for that concern. True citizen engagement will only strengthen it and the full elected council retains the final say in almost everything (that is, when the premier doesn’t intervene).

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Citizen members already sit on dozens of city agencies, boards and commissions. That gives them a say in everything from how the TTC operates to the priorities of the board of health, so including them on community councils would not be a big break with current practice. Indeed, even more engaged citizens will be needed for those city bodies since 25 councillors can’t fill all the positions that the old 44-member council did and still have time to do anything else.

In both cases, ensuring a better gender balance and broad diversity of voices at those decision-making tables must be a key priority of any selection process.

The revamped community councils could help not just in running a better city today but in giving a broader range of people the opportunity to build the experience and public profile they need to run for elected office in the future.

There’s nothing revolutionary about all this. Citizens participate on similar local councils all over the world, and all do it differently. Toronto doesn’t have to follow any one model. It would be wise to come up with one best-suited to the political realities the city currently faces, which means not creating a costly new system that the premier would almost certainly veto.

To be sure, some councillors will struggle with this. Some won’t want to share power or make it easier for potential future rivals to emerge. Others will only want to encourage voices that echo their own.

But Tory — who has spoken strongly about the need to better knit the city together and provide opportunities for disadvantaged groups to participate fully — should take this on as a priority for his new term.

Toronto’s community councils came into being with amalgamation, the last time the province forced an unwanted change on the city, claiming it would be more efficient and save money. It didn’t then and there’s no evidence it will now. This latest provincial interference in municipal government might as well be the impetus to make them work better for the city and its residents.

This is the best chance for Toronto to salvage something from Ford’s mess and move toward a better future.

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